"I paint myself because I am so often alone, because I am the subject I know best."

Frida Kahlo is known as much for her dramatic life as for the power of her art. One of Mexicoís most famous artists, Kahlo contracted polio as a child. Then, at 18, she was victim of a grisly bus accident resulting in multiple broken bones and a crushed foot. Though not expected to walk again, she began to paint her famous series of self-portraits during her long bed stay.

Despite chronic pain, Kahlo led a robust life as a painter and political activist.Ý In 1929 she married famed muralist Diego Rivera and began a complex relationship that included infidelities, divorce and remarriage.

In her art, Frida favored the Mexicanidad tradition, which rejected Western European influences in favor of pre-Columbian and peasant retablo art.Ý Her work is known for bright colors and dramatic symbolism.Ý Though often linked to Surrealim, she rejected this categorization, responding ìI paint my own reality.îÝ Kahlo died in 1954 shortly after her first solo show held in Mexico City.